Rent it as a suitable test for your new widescreen TV, but don't expect movie magic.
Nomad (The Warrior) (2007)
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Synopsis: Oscar-winning director Milos Forman executive produces this cinematic import from Kazakhstan. In the 18th century, Mongolian invaders rule the country. The Kazakhs are divided by infighting, but Oraz (Jason Scott Lee, THE JUNGLE BOOK) searches for the messiah destined to unite and save... Oscar-winning director Milos Forman executive produces this cinematic import from Kazakhstan. In the 18th century, Mongolian invaders rule the country. The Kazakhs are divided by infighting, but Oraz (Jason Scott Lee, THE JUNGLE BOOK) searches for the messiah destined to unite and save his people. He finds Mansur, the baby boy of prophecy, and trains him to be a fighter. As Mansur (Kuno Becker, GOAL!) becomes a man, he reveals himself to be a mighty warrior, as does his best friend, Erali (Jay Hernandez, HOSTEL). The men prepare to battle the Mongols, who are led by the strength of Sharish (Mark Dacascos, IRON CHEF). Though this war epic features an unusual subject in its focus on the history of Kazakhstan, it follows in the footsteps of Hollywood war films such as BRAVEHEART. Unlike most recent battle-driven movies, NOMAD: THE WARRIOR doesn't rely on computer-generated effects to create its vast armies. Instead, it focuses on the talents of real people, including Dacascos, who has displayed his martial-arts prowess in films like DOUBLE DRAGON and BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF. Each of the actors displays deft sword fighting skills--an essential in a film fueled by action. Italian composer Carlo Siliotto (THE PUNISHER) garnered a Golden Globe nomination for his powerful score. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Kuno Becker, Jay Hernandez, Jason Scott Lee, Mark Dacascos, Doskhan Zholzhaskynov
Screenwriter: Rustam Ibragimbekov
Producer: Ram Bergman, Rustam Ibragimbekov
Reviews
The film is stilted and lame. Worse, the acting is as grim as the story is primeval.
It embraces every cliché in the epic-movie playbook, relies too heavily on stale dialogue delivered in somber tones and offers little to its actors besides the opportunity to fashion some great-looking Eurasian costumes.
The filmmakers don't appear to know what's important, let alone how to pace an epic for big drama and maximum thrills.
Kazakhstan supposedly spent $40 million in making this martial-arts epic. That bought a laughably corny Hollywood B-movie, gorgeous scenery, Hollywood B-actors and extras who plainly weren't members of the Screen Extras Guild.
Meant to be sweeping and inspirational, Nomad is instead lurching and laughable, with terrible writing, awkward acting and clueless direction.
It harks back to those sand-and-sandals epics of the 1950s and '60s, with an international cast speaking in awkwardly dubbed English.
The use of "idiot plotting" to advance the story makes this laughable when it should be poetic.
Despite the central Asian locale, the film is largely rooted in the conventions of the American westerns and good old Hollywood Biblical epics like The Ten Commandments, as well as many of their attendant clichés.
Though it has a familiar inevitability, the journey is generally compelling, thanks to fierce battles, a gorgeous landscape and heartfelt performances.
While the film has impressive 18th-century trappings and vivid battle scenes, the plotting and acting are rudimentary.
In the American-release version of the picture, the emphasis on spectacle and the paring away of all but the most essential exposition ends up having the opposite of its intended effect.
With commendable sincerity but also an unfortunate Hollywood veneer, Nomad is a poor man's Gladiator.
A throwback to yeteryear's epics, Kazakhstan's official entry for the Foreign-Language Oscar is an old-fashioned actioner using real locales and extras rather than CGI effects; lack of unified vision may derive from too many directors behind the camera
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